Feeding device for tobacco-leaves.



G. F. WHITING & L. P. WHITAKER. FEEDING DEVICE FOR TOBACCO LEAVES.

Patented Apr. 15, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

APILIOATION FILED FEB. 20, 1909.

WITNESSES G. P. WHITING & L. P. WHITAKER.

FEEDING DEVICE FOR TOBACCO LEAVES.

APPLICATION FILED 1'33. 20, 1909.

\ Patented Apr. 15, 1913.

a SHEEN-SHEET 2;

G. F. WHITING & L. P. WHITAKER. FEEDING DEVICE FOR TOBACCO LEAVES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 20, 1909.

Patented Apr. 15,1913.

a sHn'ETssHnnT a.

ZNVENTORS.

" ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUY 1F. WHITING AND LOUIS P. WHITAKER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OFCOLUMBIA,

ASSIGNORS TO THE PNEUMATIC TOBACCO STEMMER CO 0]? WASHINGTON, DIS- TRICTOF COLUMBIA, A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA.

FEEDING DEVICE FOR TOBACCO-LEAVES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 15, 1913.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GUY F. WHITING and LOUlS P. WHITAKER, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feeding Devices forTobacco-Leaves; and We do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the inis a top plan View of a feedingapparatus embodying our invention, a portion of the feed table beingbroken away. Fig. ,2 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal sectional viewof the same. Fi 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view 0 a portionof the apparatus, drawn to a still larger scale and showing theauxiliary feeding carrier or chain and adjacent parts. Fig. 4 is atransverse vertical sectional view on line H of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is asimilar view on line 55 Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a detail fof a part of theapparatus. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view.

of a part of the apparatus.

The object of ourinventio-n is to provide a mechanism for feedingtobacco leaves to a stemming machine, orfor other purposes, in which theleaves may be arranged upon a horizontal table from which they arecarried, separated or spaced a certain distance apart and turnedinto avertical plane and held at a desired angle to a vertical plane extendingtransversely of their line of travel, or otherwise delivered from thefeeding mechanism.

Our present invention isan improvement on the feeding mechanism inventedby, Louis P. Whitaker and covered by his application 2- for LettersPatent of theUnited States filed Feb. 6, 1907 and given Serial No.356,014 and our improvements have in mind facili tating the introductionof the leaves into the feeding mechanism, so as to obtain a .ver

rapid feed vof the leaves, and with a minimum of labor on the part ofthe operator or feeder.

In carrying out our invention, we provide a horizontal feed table Asupported in an desired manner and provided preferably Wit alongitudinally extending conveyer B, which may be formed of a singlebelt or a plurality of belts passing around rollers b, b, the latterbeing the driving roller. Adjacent to' the inner edge of the conveyer Band parallel thereto we arrange what we term the auxiliary carrier,consisting (as shown in Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive) of a sprocket chain C,or other endless carrying device, provided with a plurality of outwardlyor upwardly projecting teeth or projections 0. The teeth a arepreferably inclined forward in the direction. toward which they movewhen the carrier is in operation, or at least have their rearward edgesinclined forwardly as shown, so that they resemble saw teeth or ratchetteeth, the object of such formation being to permit the butt portions ofthe stems of tobacco leaves to be,moved over the teeth very readily inthe direction of travel of the carrier, but to have the teeth take intothe butt portions when they are released by the feeder and carry themforward with the carrier.

The teeth 0 are conveniently formed in the edge portions of gsh'ortplates 0' which are riveted or otherwise secured to the exterior linkplates of the chain on one or both'sides (the tooth plates 0'- beingherein shown only on one side of the chain or carrier) but the may beformed in other ways. The chain is mounted on a rear driving sprocket Cand a forward idle groove pulley C The sprocket wheel C is in this in-'stance mounted ri 'dl on a shaft 6 which also carries the riving roller6 for the conveyer B, and the grooved roller C is mounted loosely on ashaft 6? hereinafter referred to, and upon which the roller b, of

the conveyerB, is also loosely mounted. The upper lap of the chain Crests-preff'er'ably in a longitudinal slot or recess a in the feed tableA, so thatthe teeth 0 pro- ,ject a short distance ,above the top of thetable and the lower lap of the chain may be provided'with a tightener Cas shown in Fig. 3 if desired. The chain 0 is driven at substantiall thesame speed as the con- .veyer B, and 1n feeding tobacco leaves the Ivided on one edge only as here shown, the.

chain engages the butt portions of the leaf stems a short distance fromtheir ends, the leafy portions or tails lying upon the conveyer B, andin the case of very long leaves extending be 0nd the same on the sidetoward the fee er.

D represents an adjustable head guide having supporting brackets dprovided withslots to-receivesecuring screws d to secure the head guideto the table,'and this head guide is arranged at such a distance fromthe chain C as toinsure that the leaves are uniformly engaged by thechain, at. the

proper point. In feeding the operator is assisted by this guide ingetting the leaves in such'position that the butt ends will bepractically even. i

- Above the row of teeth 0 of the upper lap of the chain C we arrange ayielding guide D, which preferably consists of a flat strip of sheetsteel or other resilient metal having a smooth under surface. Where thechain C is provided with tooth plates onboth edges, the guide D willpreferably arranged above the longitudinal center of the chain butwheretooth plates are proguide D is located centrally above the teeth.

and carrying a vertically supported and vertically movable rod dtherein. A spring d the springto bear downward more or less, above theteeth 0 and with locklng means.

engages an exterior rojection, or pin (Z on the rod to hold it yiedingly in its depressed position and the downward movement of the rod islimited by a wing nut or other adjustable device d", on the rod asshown. The lower end of rod d is split and engages the rib (2 to whichit is connected by a pin passing through the bifurcated part of the rod,and through a slot 01 in the rib (i thus providing for the longitudinalmovement of the guide.

The opposite end of the spring guide D is supported in such a manner asto enablethe guide to be adjusted toward and from the teeth a of thechain C. In this instance a bracket d is secured tothe table and carriesa horizontal rod d the end of which is bifurcated to embrace the guide Dto which it is preferably securely pinned. The rod ri isprovided'withmeans such as a. winged head d" by which it may beturned tocause such as a jam nut (Z tolo'ck it in its adjusted position.

.The chain 0- is drlven as hereinafter described, and at a comparativelyslow rate of speed, so-that the operator can take a number of leaves ata time, aline the butts with head-guide D, flatten them upon the tableand slide them forward over the teeth 0 and beneath the guide D at amuch greater rate of speed than the chain C travels. As soon as theoperator releases the. leaves their stems are gripped by the teeth 0 andthey are carried along with the chain, the tails being carried by theconveyer B, leaving the operators hands free to grasp another quantityof leaves and slide them along over the teeth 0, up to the last one ofthe previous lot, and so on keeping a continuous row of leaves betweenthe teeth 0 and the spring guide D, which form a magazine, as it were,and enable the operator by intermittently placing a number of leaves inthe feed to effect a practically continuous feed of the leavestherefrom.

The leaves are taken one at a time from the auxiliary carrier C, by adelivery mechanism and separated to a'distance of several inches, andseparately delivered to a stemming machine. The specific form ofdelivery mechanism herein shown and described is covered by theapplication of L. P. Whitaker hereinbefore described, and is notspecifically claimed herein.

The delivery chain E is mounted on a driving sprocket E on the shaft band an outer sprocket E of small diameter, mounted on an extension ofthe table. The chain E is provided at intervals with a tooth e on itsupper face, which forms a continuation of a lateral tooth 6 arranged onthe side of the chain, and preferably extends .at an angle downwardly,and rearwardly,

the angle of tooth 6' corresponding to the angle at which the tobaccoleaves are to be delivered, after they are turned from a horizontal intoa substantiall vertical position.

The speed of the sproc et chains 0 and E is timed so that the sprocketchain C moves substantially the distance between two adjacent stems orleaves while the chain E moves the much greater distance, between twoteeth e, e, so that each of the leaves carried by chain C is deliveredto a tooth e of chain E at the instant that the leaf escapes the lowerend of guide D, and the tooth e at once carries the leaf toward thedelivery end of chain E and beneath a guide F arranged edgewise abovethe chain E and su ported similarly to the forward end of gui e D bymeans of spring pressed rods f, f and brackets f f, but the guide F isarranged to press firmly upon the stem or butt portion' of theleaf as itis carried along by the tooth e.

At a certain point above chain E the guide F is stopped, and atsubstantially the same point a lateral guide G- is arranged adjacent tothe lateral teeth 6', and supported yieldingly, as by spring pressedrods 9 g and brackets g g. The end of guide G adjaface of the toothe'with which it is in contact, thus presenting each leaf to the stemmingmachine at the desired angle, determined by the angle of the tooth e.The leaves will also extend above the chain E a uniform distancedetermined by the adjustment of the head guide D, as will be clearlyunderstood, so that the butt ends of the leaves may be properly grippedby the feedlng mechanism of the tobacco stemming machine.

It will be understood that at the time the leaves are transferred fromthe receiving carrier C to the delivery carrier E they will fall off ofthe conveyer B, and hang down- Ward thereby facilitating the turningof'the' leaves into vertical position when they engage theupturned endof the guide G.

The var1 ous parts of the apparatus may be driven in any desired Way. Inthe'present drawings we have shown a driving shaft' H which may bedriven from the stemming machine or independently and at differentspeeds as required, a suitable change speed gearing of any well known orpreferred type being employed if desired. The shaft H is here shown ashaving a pulley h for receiving a driving belt, but it may receive powerin any desired way. The shaft h is provided at its rear end with a wormhengaging a worm wheel I) on the shaft. 1) for imparting motion to theauxiliary carrier C and the conveyer B. At its forward end the shaft His shown as provided with a' bevel gear 11 engaging a larger bevel wheel6 on shaft 1), for driving the delivery chain E. Varia-'- tions mayobviously be made in the driving mechanism without depart-ing from theinvention.

Between the conve er B, and the auxiliary chain 0, we emp oy avertically adjustableplate L (see Fig. 6) the forward end of which isnotched or cut away to permit the teeth 6 of chain E to passtherethrough as they rise through the table around the sprocket wheel E.We may employ a spring plate for this purpose and secure it rigidly tothe table at the end farthest-from the sprocket wheel, as by screw Z, insuch manner that the other end tends to spring upward, and provide anadjustingscrew l by means of which the vertical adjustment of theforward end of the plate'may-be accomplished, as shown best in Fig. 6.-In

I'm engagement with said some cases we may provide a bottom screw Zengaging the lower face of the plate L to raise it, as also shown inFig. 6, if found necessary or, desirable. The effect of raising andlowering this plate is to vary the length of the efieetive portions ofthe teeth 1 c, 0 of the auxiliary chain C, as it will vary the amountwhich said teeth the plate.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: I

1. A feeding device for leaves, comprising among its members a feedtable to support project above Ithe leaves, a carrying device providedwith serrated portions for engaging the leaves near their butt endsarranged longitudinally of and adjacent to one edge of said table,

said serrated portions of the carrier being constructed to permit theleaves to be moved freely over the same in one direction only,

and means for moving said carrying device in said direction, wherebysaid carrier engages the leaf stems near one end and carries them in adirection transversely of their length.

2. A feeding device for leaves, comprising among its members, a feedtable, a carrymg device arranged longitudinally of and adjacent to oneedge 0 the table and mov1n toward the delivery end of the dev ce, saidcarrying device being provided with leaf engaging teeth, said teethhaving their rear faces inclined toward the delivery end of the deviceto permit the leaves to be freely moved transversely of their lengthoyer the same in said direction.

3'. A feeding device for leaves comprising among its members a feedtable, a carrying device arranged longitudinally of and adjacent to oneedge of the table and moving toward the delivery end the device, saidcarrying device having 'rojections-for positively engaging and feedingthe leaves therewith, said projections being constructed to permit theleaves to be moved freely thereover transversely of their length, in adirection toward the delivery end of the device and means for positivelyholding the leaves in engagement with said projections.

41. A feeding device for leaves comprising among its members a feedtable, a carrying device arranged longitudinally of and adjacent. to oneedge of the table and movable toward the delivery end of said feedingdevice, and provided with leaf engaging and feeding projections inclinedtoward the said delivery end of the device, and a stationary leafengaging guide for holding the leaves rojections and capable of yieldingaway rom'said carrying device.

5. A feeding device for leaves comprising among its members a feedingtable, an end- "less carrier arranged longitudinally of end adjacent toone edge of the table and proamong its members a feed table, an endlesshaving a smooth frictionface, for engaging the leaves and pressing theminto contact with said teeth, a support engaging the end carrierarranged longitudinally of and adj acent to one edge of the table,provided with a longitudinally disposed row of teeth, said teeth havingtheir rear faces inclined toward the direction in which the carrier ismoved, to permit the leaves tobe moved freely transversely of theirlength over said teeth in said direction, means for .operating saidcarrier and a stationary spring guide located above said carrier, andhaving a smooth friction face, for engaging the leaves and pressing theminto contact with said teeth. 7. A feeding device-for leaves comprisingamong its members, a feed table, an endless carrier provided witha'longitudinally disposed row of teeth, said teeth havingt-heir rearfaces inclined toward the direction in which the carrier is moved, topermit the leaves to be moved transversely of their length freely oversaid teeth in said direction, means for operating said carrier and astationary spring guide located above said carrier, and having asmoothfriction face,

for engaging the leaves and pressing theminto contact with said teethand independent adjusting devices en aging said guide at differentpoints in its ength.

8. A feeding device for leaves comprising among its members, an endlesscarrier provided with a longitudinally disposed row of teeth, said teethhaving their rear faces inclined toward the direction .in which thecarrier is moved, to permit the leaves to be moved freely'over saidteeth in said direction, means for operating said carrier and a springguide located above said carrier, and having a smooth friction face, forengaging the leaves and pressing them into contact with said teeth, saidguide having the'end farthest from the delivery end of the feed,e.\tending upward, a rotatable support engaging the upturned portion ofthe guide, and means for adjusting said rotary part about its axis ofrotation. v

9. A feeding device for leaves comprising among its members, an endlesscarrier provided with a longitudinally disposed row of teeth, said teethhaving their rear faces inclined toward the direction in which thecarrier 'is moved, to permit the leaves to be moved freely over saidteeth in said direction, means for operating said carrier and a springguidev located above said carrier, and

of said guide nearest the delivery end of the feed, said guide having alongitudinal movement with res ect to said support, the other end ofsaid guide being turned upward away from said carrier, a rotatablesupport engaging the upturned portion of said guide .and means foradjusting said rotatable support about its axis of rotation.

10. A feeding device for leaves comprising among its members, an endlesscarrier provided with a longitudinally disposed row of teeth, said teethhaving their rear faces inclined toward th direction in which thecarrier is moved, to permit the leaves to be moved freely over saidteeth in said direction, means for operating saidcarrier and a springguide located above said carrier, and having a smooth friction face, forengaging the leaves and pressing them into contact with said teeth, avertically movable spring pressed rod connected to the end of said guidenearest the delivery end of the feed, a horizontally disposed rotatablesupport engaging the guide near its opposite end, and means foradjusting said rotatable guide to vary the tension of the guide upon theleaves.

11. A feeding device for leaves comprising among its members a feedtable, an endless chain arranged longitudinally of and adjacent to oneedge of the table and having its links provided with vertically andlongitudinally disposed plates provided at their upper edges, withteeth. inclined in the direction toward which the chain is moved, meansfor driving said chain, and a stationary guide located above said chainand having portions substantially parallel thereto, to hold the :leavesin engagement with said teeth.

12. A feeding device for leaves comprising among its members, a carrierrovided with leaf engaging pro ections inc med, to-

ward the direction in which the carrier is moved, drivin mechanism forsaid carrier, means for hol ing the leaves in engagement .with saidprojections and a delivery carrier operated at greater speed than thefirst men- ;tioned carrier, provided with means for re- .ceiving theleaves therefrom singly, and separating them.

13. In a feeding device for tobacco stem- ;mingmachines, the combinationwith a de-.

,livering carrier provided with teeth at in- .tervals for conveyingsingle leaves and presenting them to the stemming machine, and means forturning the leaves from a horizontal to a vertical position while inengagement with said carrier, of an auxiliary carrier operated at slowerspeed than and delivering leaves to said delivering carrier, saidauxiliary carrier being provided with a plurality of closely relatedprojections inclinedjn a direction toward the delivery carrier to permitthe leaves to be, moved freely thereover in said direction, and meansfor holding the leaves in engagement with said auxiliary carrier.

14:. In a feeding device for-tobacco stemming machines, the combinationwith a horizontal feeding table, of a deliveringcarrier provided atintervals with teeth on a horizontal and vertical face for conveyingsingle leaves and presenting them to the stemming machine, means forturningthe leaves from a horizontal to a vertical position while inengagement with said carrier, of an auxiliary carrier provided withclosely related teeth, inclined toward the delivering carrier, to permitthe leaves to be moved by hand freely over said teeth toward thedelivery carrier, a guide for holding the leaves in engagement with saidauxiliary carrier, and means for driving said auxiliary carrier at alower rate of speed than the delivering carrier.

15. In a feeding device for tobacco stemming machines, the combinationwith a horizontal feed table, of a horizontally disposed conveyer, forreceiving and carrying the main portions of the leaves, an endlesscarrier, parallel to said conveyer, for engaging the leaves near theirbutt ends, said carrier being provided with teeth having their rearedges inclined in the direction of travel of the carrier, and a yieldinggulde located above the carrier, for holding the leaves in engagementtherewith.

16. In -a feeding device for tobacco stemming machines, the combinationwith an endless carrier, provided with closely re-' lated teeth inclinedin the direction of travel of said carrier, a horizontal plate locatedadjacent and substantially arallel to a portion of said carrier, meansor adjusting said plate vertically with respect to said carrier to varythe depth' of engagement of said teeth with the tobacco leaves, and aguide above said carrier for holding the leaves in engagement with saidcarrier.

17. In a feeding device for tobacco stemming machines, the combinationwith a I horizontal feed table, of a horizontally disposed conveyer, forreceiving the main portions of the leaves, a horizontally disposed 18.In a feeding device for tobacco stemming machines, the combination;withv a horizontal feed table, of a horizontally .disposed conveyer, forreceiving the main portions of the leaves, a horizontally disposedcarrier arranged parallel to said, conveyer and provided with closelyrelated rojections inclined toward the direction 0 travel of saidcarrier, for. engaging the portions of the leaves adjacent to their buttends, means for moving said conveyer and carrier at substantially thesame rate of speed, means for engaging thebutt portions of the leavesabove said carrier and holding them in engagement therewith, deliveringmechanism for receiving the leaves singly from said carrier, anddelivering them to, the stemming machine, means for driving said delivery mechanism at greater speed than the saidcarrier, and conveyer,and means for turning said leaves into a vertical, position while inengagement with said delivering mechanism.

In testimonywhereof we afiix our signatures, in the presence of twowitnesses.

GUY F. WHITING. LOUIS P. 'WHITAKER. Witnesses:

J. K. Moonn,

F. DOYLE.

